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Monday, October 10, 2016

Full of Beans

Jennifer L. Holm returns to Key West during the Depression - the Great One, not the recent turn of the 21st century bank blow-up - just clarifying - in Full of Beans.

Grown-ups lie. There you have it. It's a fact and Beans can give you example after example of how this works. But as Beans tries to survive a sweltering summer in down and out Key West, he discovers that kids can be deceitful, too. Even stand-up kids like himself.

Holm did her homework in verifying the New Deal program that turned a worn-out Florida village into a tourist attraction. Beans calls the government agent a Crazy Man, and lampoons his "underwear" - bermuda shorts - in between marble tournaments and running errands for a shady businessman. Everyone in town thinks the house paint they are given is ridiculous.

When Bean's plans put his friends in danger, he has to make amends. He rallies his band of kids to help save Key West. In an unrelated subplot, Holm reintroduces the miracle diaper rash remedy - somewhat modified - that she mentioned in Turtle in Paradise.